Southwest Airlines is Moving Forward With More Changes
Last week, Southwest Airlines officially implemented its fees for checked baggage, ending the airline's longstanding "bags fly free" policy. But as the airline moves forward with that change, it sounds like the airline is also moving forward with a few other major changes, as well.
Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan recently spoke at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference, where he spoke openly about many of the changes that Southwest Airlines was planning for the future.
Jordan announced that the airline was moving forward with a few changes that are "already coming," some of which are already on Southwest planes today.
"Well, first, the things like power on the aircraft, larger overhead bins, vastly improved WiFi, that's already coming. It's on a lot of the fleet today. Those things are already being solved," Jordan said during his comments at the event.
It sounds like Southwest is also open to making some other significant changes, too, as the airline continues to listen to customer preferences, though Jordan conceded that those changes are not necessarily on the immediate horizon.
"So putting in the things that I've described isn't the end of the journey for Southwest. We will continue to pursue the consumer. And if the consumer wants other types of premium, they want us to fly other long-haul destinations, which could lead to aircraft questions. I'm totally making all this up. This is not a plan. But the consumer demand in certain cities for us for a lounge is super high. My point is rather than say, no Southwest Airlines does not do that. You must follow the consumer or if you are forever vulnerable to others that can offer that to the consumer," Jordan said.
"Even in cities that we are very strong, and we are the largest in roughly half of the 50 largest cities in the United States, even there in Nashville and in Austin as an example, people love us, but we also can't -- for many of our folks that love Southwest, we can't do things that -- we can't provide products that you want like a first class, we can't get you to long-haul international destinations. If a lounge is important to you, we don't have a lounge. I'm not predicting any of those things. What I'm telling you is rather than be forever vulnerable, we're going to follow the consumer and what the consumer needs."
We'll have to see what the airline does as it attempts to rebrand itself after ending free bags last week.